Cinder-Skinning Block

This block aims to facilitate asset loading, skeletal animations and cpu/gpu mesh skinning.

Installation

1. Clone inside the Cinder block folder:

    cd [Cinder]/blocks/
    git clone https://github.com/num3ric/Cinder-Skinning.git
   

2. Download the compiled assimp static libraries here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29102565/lib/lib.zip

3. Extract the lib/ folder and place it insider the Cinder-Skinning block folder. You should have the following folder hierarchy: ../blocks/Cinder-Skinning/lib/macosx/libassimp.a, etc.

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Alternatively, you can compile Assimp from source by using the latest version on available here: https://github.com/assimp/assimp.git We used the following command to compile it:

cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" -DBOOST_ROOT="../cinder_master/boost" -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-stdlib=libc++ -fvisibility-inlines-hidden" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DASSIMP_BUILD_STATIC_LIB=true -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="i386;x86_64"

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To create a new project which uses Cinder-Skinning, use TinderBox to link your project against this block.

Samples Overview

SeymourDemo: This is the basic demo. It showcases the standard collada seymour.dae file. The animation is played by moving the mouse left and right. Furthermore, any other assets can be tested/loaded by drag-and-dropping them onto the app window.

CustomShaderDemo: illustrates how it is possible to use custom shaders instead of calling SkinningRenderer::draw. Note however that any custom shader must maintain some skinning code (especially the vertex shader).

ArmyDemo: shows how it is possible to instantiate multiple instances of an asset, where each skinned mesh can individually have different animation poses.

ProceduralAnim: demontrates that it is possible to animate skeletons procedurally by interacting directly with transformations at the bone/node level.

ProceduralAnim: illustrates the functionalities related to an asset with multiple animation cycles, and how these animations can be blended using blend weights.

KinectDemo: This demo needs to be rewritten.

Common Use

Storing and loading a SkinnedVboMeshRef called mCharacter can be done with the following assignment : mCharacter = SkinnedVboMesh::create( loadModel( getAssetPath( ... ) ) ); or equivalently via mCharacter = SkinnedVboMesh::create( loadModel( loadResource( ... ) ) );

Use the SkinnedMesh class instead of SkinnedVboMesh to use ci::TriMesh instead of a ci::VboMesh.

The animation is done at the skeleton level, for example: mCharacter->getSkeleton()->setPose( time );

However, animating the skeleton doesn't automatically animate a skinned mesh containing it (for the moment at least) so a mCharacter->update(); is necessary.

Rendering can be done via our default renderer implementation: SkinningRenderer::draw( mCharacter )

Architecture

TODOs

With the graphics cinder rewrite:

• Reinforcing the loader, fail elegantly
• Asynchronous loading (shared OpenGL context required)

In general:

• Progress on animation API (timeline, animation blending)
• Finish Kinect sample (skeleton remapping?)
• Samples are great, but tests would help, especially for the anim curves code
• Assimp independance so that models can be saved and loaded (via a standard format) without it
• Integrate Obj-loader as a ModelSource